Design principles

Fuji draws on restraint, balance, quiet hierarchy, warm surfaces, clean spacing, and careful detail. The influence is expressed through the interface itself, not through decorative motifs, meaningless text, or cultural stereotypes.

Calm by default

The interface should feel quiet. Warm neutral surfaces (--fuji-background, --fuji-surface, and --fuji-surface-strong) create hierarchy through tone and elevation, not saturated accents.

Warm, not cold

Light, dark, and glass use warm off-whites, warm dark neutrals, and a soft beige and gray glass atmosphere instead of cold blue-gray neutrals.

Precise, restrained motion

Transitions run between 120 and 240ms with a restrained easing curve. Buttons press to 0.98 scale, and dialogs fade and scale from 0.98. Motion is purposeful and respects prefers-reduced-motion.

One consistent API

Applicable components share size, variant, and appearance types, along with common disabled, loading, invalid, read-only, selected, and focus-visible states. Learning one component makes the others familiar.

What to avoid

This system deliberately avoids:

• Cultural stereotypes or decorative references
• Strong enterprise-blue accents
• Bright, saturated colors
• Excessive pill shapes, thick borders, or dramatic shadows
• Cold gray-blue surfaces
• Motion without a functional purpose
• Low-contrast glass that sacrifices readability

Accessibility and usability always win over exact visual imitation of a reference image when the two conflict. See Accessibility.